Disney Channels Go Dark On YouTube TV
Disney is once again locked in a carriage dispute over its linear channels, such as ESPN, ABC, FX, and Nat Geo, as the channels have now gone dark on YouTube TV.
The Disney-owned channels went dark less than an hour before their existing contract expired, leaving over 10 million YouTube TV subscribers without access to Disney’s channels, including major sports programming on ESPN.
Unlike usual cable carriage disputes, the channels have now been completely removed from the YouTube TV interface; usually, with cable, those channels stay up with a message to users explaining the situation.
Disney and YouTube have been negotiating for the past few weeks, but haven’t been able to make an agreement, with Disney saying in a statement regarding the situation:
“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC. With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
While YouTube also stated:
“Last week, Disney used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers. They’re now following through on that threat, suspending their content on YouTube TV. This decision directly harms our subscribers while benefiting their own live TV products, including Hulu + Live TV and Fubo. We know this is a frustrating and disappointing outcome for our subscribers and we continue to urge Disney to work with us constructively to reach a fair agreement that restores their networks to YouTube TV.”
For YouTube TV customers, if the Disney channels aren’t available for an extended period of time, subscribers will be offered a $20 credit toward their bills.
This isn’t the first carriage dispute for YouTube TV this year, as this is actually the fifth, following deals with NBCUniversal, Paramount and FOX. While those three deals were able to be resolved before the channels were removed, Univision channels were removed from the platform at the end of September.
Disney has a history of pulling its channels as part of carriage disputes, and it has done so with Charter, DirecTV and Sling, though recently many of these deals saw the introduction of ESPN Unlimited and Disney+ as perks of being subscribed, offering customers more choice of how to watch TV.
Disney have revealed that YouTube TV was “looking for a better deal than anyone else in the market”, aka better deals than Charter and Comcast are getting. They added that YouTube is unwilling to pay market rates for Disney’s networks or agree to terms that Disney has reached with other distributors, including it own Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services. It’s likely that Disney wants to include ESPN Unlimited and Disney+ subscriptions in its carriage deals, as it looks to boost profits as people shift away from linear television.
Roger’s Take: Without doubt, as you’d expect, both Disney and YouTube are pushing each other to try to get the best deal for themselves, but unfortunately, the YouTube TV subscribers are the ones losing out. This is also the first major dispute that is taking place in an era where ESPN’s content is now available directly over streaming.
So it means customers have alternatives to just staying with YouTube TV, and with Disney owning both Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, YouTube TV has much less leverage. However, Disney will no doubt want the fees from an additional 10 million users each month, but these carriage disputes are likely to get more challenging year on year, especially as fewer people use traditional television channel services.
What do you think of the YouTube TV and Disney carriage dispute? Let me know on social media!
